My experience with 5 and 15 is that they are SLOWER which is expected. And I did not see a noticeable change in quality. The only time I use smaller than 25 at this point is if I’m screening for microorganisms, and then I’m using a 0.5micron.
Something else I noticed is that bags have different seams and seams have different values as well - so you should ask about that. Your 25 might be 20 micron material with 25 micron seams, for instance.
I’ve also used MUCH larger micron bags/screens (similar material to my bubble bags) and much larger filter types. And I’ve used dozens of different filter media and filter papers. They all do different things - some slow things down, some speed things up, some absorb stuff, some let the waste through and hold onto the gold.
So understanding what you are trying to achieve - how its not working for you - allows you to pick a better tool (bag, filter, media, whatever).
You want a bag in this instance that will allow the bad stuff to flow out - while keeping the dried material inside. Depending on the size of your crystals - you could go bigger here (there are screens instead of bags out there for fuges).
But from the photos it looks like there is some other stuff going on there. And everything is fine crystals (again from the photos…) even though they are sand castled together after running overnight. You’re probably getting some intense crushing going on there, which will change how things “look”.
25 micron is commercially available and easily accessible. Doesn’t mean you can’t do a DOE for your own process and see if different rates would work well for you.
I think if you were using a 10 micron with the material you have here, it would have run slower and you’d have more layering than you see in the photos.
So keeping plugging away at it. And let us know how the adventure goes! <3
